Thank you, Mayor Kishimoto, for having some vision and demonstrating leadership on environmental issues. It is unfortunate that you are personally criticized for every unfilled pothole and for not spending money that you do not have. Of course it is always easier to complain and critizice than to act and lead.

Posted by Not so fast
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Sep 17, 2007 at 8:21 am

Maybe at the end of her term, Yoriko can publish a coffee table book of all her photos from her photo-ops as mayor this year. It can be accompanied with a book detailing all her accomplishments for the city with regard to infrastructure issues, increasing tax revenue and other problems facing the city that she has dealt with during her tenure (hint it will be world's smallest book).

Going back to Richard, who supported the Mayor - if the potholes aren't filled (and take a look at the City Auditor's report on roads - we are WAY WAY behind on roads and worse than most others in the region) and we don't have enough money - WHY THE HECK ISN'T SHE DOING SOMETHING ABOUT THOSE ISSUES?? If we can't expect someone with the title "Mayor" to do something about mismatch between income and requirements and crumbling infrastructure, who should we look to for leadership??

For constract, in Boston Mayor Menino doggedly stays on top of the city staff by personally calling in every broken street light and unrepaired street he sees, and demanding attention. You can argue with his methods if you want - but the fact is, he unremittingly attends to the day to day work of managing a city.

Posted by Not so fast
a resident of Duveneck/St. Francis
on Sep 17, 2007 at 12:24 pm

Terry--some people will say that the mayor in PA is only a ceremonial position--it has no power etc.
Then why have the position of mayor? As an ego boost for service on the council? Yoriko is on the council for 6 years , as a reward she gets to be mayor and gets to push her agenda for 1 year--next year we will have a new mayor with a new agenda.
Maybe we should have the city council run the city and deal with all the issues that get swept under the rug because the city council is afraid of confrontation. We have infrastructure issues, tax revenue issues, we have shenanigans involving city management and malfeasance involving city utility workers--none of these issues are addressed.
instead we have people playing "big city mayor" or other council members travelling around the country on our dime instructing everyone how we "get things done here". When asked what they have accomplished after 8 years on the council they point to the Homer Avenue tunnel boondoggle as a major achievment!!!

Posted by Resident
a resident of Meadow Park
on Sep 17, 2007 at 6:16 pm

". . . two agencies (City of Palo Alto and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District) can work together to provide better hiking access -- in this case a last link that will enable hikers to go from Arastradero Preserve in the lower foothills to the ocean."

Thank you, Palo Alto Online, for publishing this event. I commend the City of Palo Alto for working cooperatively with another agency to provide better hiking access. I'm grateful to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District for the work they do to improve our quality of life.

I agree that we are missing some important line-items in our city budget: repair and maintenance of our libraries and repair and maintenance of our streets, for example. The entire City Council needs to be responsible for this funding. In addition, the budget should fund putting up neighborhood signs limiting event parking, fund monitoring/enforcement of noise generated by events near neighborhoods, and monitor particulate levels generated by construction projects  warning neighbors of dangerous air quality and putting in place serious consequences for construction that pollutes neighborhoods.